Pageant renews long-standing holiday tradition
A Christmas tradition was renewed Saturday afternoon at St. Saint Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church, 432 Center Ave.
Ten children, a narrator and two musicians put on “A Christmas Pageant.”
The sanctuary of St. Michael was transformed into Bethlehem and the surrounding hillsides and children from All Saints Parish became shepherds, wise men, angels and Mary and Joseph to enact “the greatest story every told” before the 4 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass.
Herb Nichol, a lector at St. Michael and a member of the pastoral council of All Saints Parish, is the director/producer of the pageant and has been for the past 25 years.
He said the number of young actors varies from year to year, but “basically it’s the same pageant narrated by a student every year.”
“I adapted it many, many years ago from a faith formation class,” said Nichol. “The children don’t have any lines to remember, they just have to know where to stand.”
Nichol said this year’s cast, drawn from St. Michael and the other four churches in the parish, had a two-hour rehearsal to go through the maneuvers before Saturday’s performance.
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